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1. When am I allowed to burn brush outdoors?

The State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) allows open burning to be conducted between January 15th and May 1st of each year between the hours of 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

2. I was having a medical emergency and called 911 for an ambulance, but the fire department came. Why?

Many people mistakenly think the sole purpose of the Needham Fire Department is to put out fires, but we do much more including providing an advanced life support ambulance.

3. But I just wanted to be taken to the hospital emergency room where I can get the care I need. What can firefighters do to for my medical emergency?

Our firefighters are trained Emergency Medical Technicians and those assigned to the ambulance are all trained at the higher level of EMT-Paramedics. This is the highest degree of medical care available in the field. Our Paramedics can assess and treat critically ill or injured patients quickly and effectively on-scene with lifesaving measures.

4. I called for an ambulance, but a fire truck arrived first. Why wasn’t the ambulance sent before a fire truck, that’s what I asked for?

We dispatch all apparatus at the same time, but in certain areas of town, such as in Needham Heights the fire engine may arrive first. This is because our ambulance is stationed at our headquarters, Station I on Chestnut Street. This way EMT’s can begin the assessment and treatment can begin while the ambulance is still in route.

5. When I called 911, the dispatcher asked me a lot of questions. Why can’t they just send an ambulance?

Our dispatchers are Emergency Medical Dispatch trained and certified. The questions they ask are designed to help preliminary assess the situation on the phone. This means they can assist callers to begin life saving measures even before the arrival of our EMT’s.

6. Why did you have to send the fire truck and the ambulance? Wouldn’t it be better to just send the ambulance, they’re the ones providing EMS right?

Actually, the EMT’s assigned to the ambulance are only part of the response needed to adequately mitigate any emergency medical situation. While the EMT’s are taking vital signs and interviewing patients and witnesses, other personnel are busy doing other tasks. These tasks include bringing in stretchers, stair chairs or other specialized medical equipment. Further other personnel on scene help calmly explain to family members what is going on and keep them out of the way of the attending EMT’s. In some instances they have to move home furnishings and help in the extrication of injured parties. The fire truck is stocked with various specialized tools and equipment that may be needed at any given call. Personnel are also needed to help carry patients down stairways safely. In instances where CPR is being performed the personnel on the fire truck are needed to assist the Paramedics in performing lifesaving procedures, giving patients the best chance of survival. There are countless other ways in which the additional help from the engine company personnel is important at all emergency medical calls.

7. Why does the Fire Department provide ambulance service anyway?

Needham residents have had the benefit of a fire department based EMS system for over forty years, nearly half of which time has been at the advanced life support level. An advanced life support (ALS) ambulance service is the highest level of pre-hospital care that is currently available anywhere. The reasons why an EMS ambulance should be provided by the fire department are plentiful and include the following.
• The two fire stations in Town are geographically located so as to insure quick response times to all areas of Town. When a life threatening medical emergency occurs the amount of time it takes to initiate ALS care becomes a critical component to survivability.

• The Needham Firefighters/EMT’s have over 40 years of continued experience providing EMS care within the Town. They offer tremendous knowledge of the Town, it’s buildings, streets, fields and parks. There is no need to depend on GPS systems that transient workers would require. Further, fire personnel develop intimate relationships with sick and infirmed residents over time. These relationships help re-assure those most vulnerable of our Town and reduce the need to re-explain their medical history in depth over and over.

• A fire based EMS system allows for patient treatment to begin immediately, even if the patient is trapped in a building on fire, pinned in a car crash or in a collapsed building. The same people who will conduct extrication can also begin patient treatment during those operations.

• Firefighter/EMT’s are among the most stable workforce in Town. It is common place for fire service personnel to remain at their jobs for well over 30 years. This stability translates into a special commitment to the Town and its people that no private ambulance service could offer. Private ambulance workers are often transient, working shifts in a number of communities without commitment to any town in particular.
• Firefighter/EMT’s assigned to the ambulance are available to respond to all types of emergencies and can offer services beyond the scope of EMS when needed, thus increasing the productivity of our department services.

• A fire based EMS system is seamless and timely. Once the 911 call is made, dispatch needs only to make one announcement to activate a single response that will provide an all hazards response. There is no need to make a separate call to a private ambulance service, thus saving valuable time form the already tight critical time parameters available for effective response.

• A fire based EMS system insures that there is continuity of medical training, equipment, medical direction and administration. Unity of command is always maintained, as there is no competing agency on scene with their own protocols and procedures to contend with.

• Ambulance revenues help to offset personnel and related equipment costs.

8. So why shouldn’t the town hire a private ambulance service?

There are many reasons why reverting to a private ambulance service doesn’t make sense for the Town of Needham. Among those reasons are the following.

• Private ambulance services lack the infrastructure of the Needham Fire Department. At this time there is no ambulance service situated in Town that could offer the centrally geographical locations that the fire department already has. To acquire similarly located facilities may prove prohibitive for the introduction of a private ambulance company within town.

• Housing a private ambulance vehicle within either or both fire stations is impractical, as these buildings lack the space to accommodate more vehicles. Further there is no space to house private ambulance personnel either.

• If housing space were to be found within Town facilities, the Town would in effect be absorbing costs of a private enterprise, thereby creating a corporate welfare structure. Further, the burden of maintaining such buildings would likely add to the Town’s overall budget obligation.

• With a private ambulance model the Town would receive no EMS related revenues, as only the transporting ambulance can bill for services.

• The fire department would likely be needed to provide support services for most if not all EMS incidents that the private ambulance responds to without any remuneration. Firefighters would be used for lift assist, extrication and other tasks that a two person private ambulance could not provide.

• There are contractual obligations that the Town has to provide pay rates for various levels of EMS certifications that would need to continue until such time, if ever that they would be negotiated out of the collective bargaining agreement with the firefighters union.

• A private ambulance model would by definition require that profits be the primary motivator possibly even ahead of the level of patient care that our townspeople have come to expect over the past forty years.

• The staffing models of most private ambulance services depends heavily on the usage of newly trained EMT’s and generally offers little incentive for personnel to remain with the service. This model does not value experience in the same way as the fire service nor is it conducive to building patient relationships over time causing anxiety for our neighbors.

• The commitment to the Town and the obligations of a private ambulance service is only as good as that company’s business model and subject to be disrupted at any time. This cannot be better illustrated than by referencing the situation created by the bankruptcy of Med Corp EMS and their parent company First Med EMS. This company was one of the largest providers of ambulance services in the country at the time of their bankruptcy filing serving over 70 municipalities over six states. The company shut down ambulance services without notice or explanation over a weekend firing over 2,000 paramedics and other emergency workers. The move left communities scrambling to provide EMS services at a moment’s notice. To vary from the current fire based EMS system that our Townspeople now enjoy and shift to a model carrying this level of risk does not appear to be in the best interest of the community.